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Bolero Jackets for the Men

I've perused some of my old figure skating books and viewed some of my old vintage highlight films, and I again feel a sense of nostalgia at seeing all of the men - singles, pairs, and dance - wearing bolero jackets, white shirts, ties, and matching pants.

There was Dick Button, wearing a white bolero jacket and dark pants when he won his second Olympic gold medal in 1952.
And there was Hayes Jenkins winning Olympic gold in 1956, his younger brother David winning the gold in 1960, both attired in bolero jacket outfits. There's Bob Paul skating with Barbara Wagner, he wearing a nifty bolero pants outfit.

OK, perhaps on one level the men looked a little bit like waiters from a swank eating establishment, but I think they looked great.

One of the first men to break away from this tradition was John Misha Petkevich, who shocked the establishment by wearing a frilly blouse and a sort of jumpsuit in the late 1960s. His maverick attire was not appreciated by the judges, and he paid for his individualistic style, at least as far as the marks were concerned.

I remember how skaters like Scott Hamilton wore jumpsuits, a style that became the rage in the 1970s and 1980s.

I thought it was so refreshing when Kurt Browning took to the ice in 1993/1994 to skate his "Casablanca" long program dressed in a waiter's outfit - white bolero jacket, dark pants. Way to go!